PADI Patches - Where do you get them and how do you wear them?

[TheRedHead]

You know, I have a tollerance for pink to some degree but there's a line. My wife constantly rags me about it too. A subtle pink is ok, but doing pink like Professor Umbridge in the new Harry Potter movie is just torture! There's evil in that much pink I tell ya! :11:

What about pink wings?

 

[Melicertes]

Quote:
Originally Posted by TheRedHead
You can meet PADI standards and be a horrible diver.

not true again. If you read all of the standards it just isn't so

So you are saying that every diver that has been certified by simply meeting PADI's standards has to be, by definition, a good diver? The last time I looked at the instructor's manual it stated:

"During the Confined Water Dives, mastery is defined as performing the skill so it meets the stated performance requirements in a reasonably comfortable, fluid, repeatable manner as would be expected of an Open Water Diver."

and

"A Teaching status PADI Instructor must conduct the final evaluation to verify that students have mastered each skill (with the exception of skin diving skills that may be evaluated by a qualified PADI certified assistant.)"

See Page 2-2; Open Water Diver Course Instructor Guide; Metric/Imperial Version; 1999 Edition; Including all Training Bulletins through First Quarter 2007

The problem is that the person who is assessing the reasonable level of mastery is still the instructor. Simply meeting the standard requirements to a level that satisfies the instructor's fancy leaves it all open for debate. What one instructor will accept as mastery may and often is not what another will accept. Bring in economic pressures on instructors by some of their employers if they work for a LDS; e.g. having to train as many divers as possible, sausage factory style, like so many LDS' do these days, then you have the makings for students getting certified simply because they didn't bolt to the surface during a mask flood and clear skill assessment. Nevermind the fact that they bolted the majority/every time in the pool.

It's in the eye of the beholder, and in this case that eye is that particular instrauctor's eye. Meeting standards is one thing, defining mastery so it can remain a constant benchmark is another.

I am only familiar with PADI standards and not those of other certifycing agencies but I suspect that other agencies have the same problem. That is why the answer is so often "it's the instructor, not the agency" that makes all the difference in whether a diver is taught well or not.

OK, getting off the soap box now...
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[letterboy]

I think all divers are horrible no matter what training they have

Is that PC enough for everyone?

 

[GA Under Water]

Horrible is an instructor with Spare Air diving Devil's Throat thinking he can bail at 125 feet in a cavern. Horrible is an instructor with gigantic free diving fins rototilling the reef with them. We could go on and on.

How many people actually know where their fins are when they are kicking? How many keep their eyes forward and forget about what they are kicking with their fins. I challenge everyone to find a good bouyancy course in a Quarry and see how many times you pass gracefully through those rings then kick it with your fins. Yes, even the mighty Frog kick. Personally, anytime I see a chance at a "bouyancy course" (even in Lake Lanier at 60-80 feet in the trees) I take the time to not touch anything with any part of myself or my gear. But I have seen some that never even think about what they are hitting with their fintips.

 

[Melicertes]

What about pink wings?

Well there have been those who say that having pink gear makes you more visible to skippers and therefore less at risk to getting run over by a boat so I can see the safety considerations here. If it's the pink I think it is, having seen some of those pink wings IRL, I cannot say that I would buy it for myself, but with a whole lot of pursuasion and negotiation I would perhaps still buy it for my wife if she wanted it to be.

I'll tell you what, I won't refuse to dive with you and your pink wings simply just because you have pink wings. Can I stop digging this hole now? My foot is starting to hurt my mouth right about now. :mooner:

 

[letterboy]

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[letterboy]

I was thinking about buying a pink wing, and than I realized I would get made fun of so I just bought a H.U.B. instead. . .

 

[Doubles]

It's in the eye of the beholder, and in this case that eye is that particular instrauctor's eye. Meeting standards is one thing, defining mastery so it can remain a constant benchmark is another.

I am only familiar with PADI standards and not those of other certifycing agencies but I suspect that other agencies have the same problem. That is why the answer is so often "it's the instructor, not the agency" that makes all the difference in whether a diver is taught well or not.

OK, getting off the soap box now...

Hey there is nothing wrong with soap boxes

I agree 100% that it's the instructor and not the agency

- my impression of the posts that I quoted was that the agency as a whole was being referred too. Now if it was related only to specific instructors - yep I would agree that not all turn out an acceptable beginning diver and the list of gripes could/would go on. The same would go for advanced training, not all instructors are equal.

IMHO most of this thread has been a hijack. The op asked about where to get patches and a fairly high percentage of the replies had nothing to do with answering that question including this one

Cheers

Steve

 

[Melicertes]

IMHO most of this thread has been a hijack. The op asked about where to get patches and a fairly high percentage of the replies had nothing to do with answering that question including this one

I agree with you, perhaps we should all just get back on topic here.

 

[letterboy]

WHAT A HIJACK!!!

Not possible uh uh I refuse to believe it!!

Hey did you guys see the baseball team with 10000 losses?